


Feline Frenzy

by cafenzie



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-12 00:36:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19120975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cafenzie/pseuds/cafenzie
Summary: In which Shinri & Abi temporarily adopt a cat...or three.





	Feline Frenzy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sasaria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sasaria/gifts).



> I owe this to watching way too many videos of cute animals (and kittens) on Youtube instead of being productive, but it's also for my beloved Sapphire aka Sasaira etc. and our mutual love of Shinri & Abi.

****

“I’m home, finally..! Sorry I took so long, there was a sale going on so everyone was in town for it-”

Shinri rounds the corner of the entryway to the humble apartment he and Abi share, expecting fully to come face to face with his fiance (especially gathered from the wafting scent of something cooking in the kitchen), but instead finds himself staring at a furry face. No, that’s not right. In fact, he finds himself locked in a staring match with a single adult feline, and looking down at _three_ smaller ones.

“Abi-”

He has so many questions that are left unanswered as he filtered through what he is experiencing. He has entered the right apartment, surely, yet the strangeness of the scene makes him rethink himself entirely. The voice of reason, collected in a baggy shirt - **his** , to be exact - and hair tied up hurriedly, appears suddenly with a glimmer of surprise and chaste guilt written all over her face. She’s definitely going to try and appeal to him through her embarrassment and persuade him into something, _he’s sure of it_ -

  
“Shin!” Abi is aware of his tormented curiosity over what lays in their living room, curled into a nest of towels and a spare box, yet cannot hide the giddiness from herself. She’s _definitely_ been up to something.

 

“What-when...where did they come from?” Now he’s only missing “ _why_ ” are they here, but he’s seldom reserved that it’s been left out in the jumble of his own words mixing together. He’s forgotten about the groceries in hand, still gaping at the kittens mewling and prodding at one another for space competitively. It isn’t until Abi settles him down, gently easing the bag from his hand and leading him into the kitchen for...privacy? Or more so to give the mother cat a break from Shinri’s intense glare as she nurses. Not to mention he is just another stranger and only makes the situation that much more foreboding.

He finds himself slowly repeating his stutters, all but ignoring the steaming rice and veggies on the stovetop awaiting him.

 

Finally, she breaks his fractious rhythm and explains. “I was walking home today, right - when all of a sudden I hear a little meow from somewhere. So, I peek behind a few trash bins and under an old concrete slab and I find these guys! I could just leave them there, Shin..!” Shinri can already hear the innocent begging tone in her voice that calls to him, even though he already knows - from experience - he can’t ever say no to her. Though bringing home four cats is a sudden stretch, even for him!

“...How did you manage to get them to come back with you?” Even he knows the split personality of street cats is not uncommon, and protective mothers are not the kindest to strangers, especially.

“Well… I ended up staying there and getting her to trust me for..about an hour or so, I guess?” Only an hour. He’s convinced she telepathically hypnotized the cat, or something. “Thankfully, I still had some lunch left over with chicken and some plain rice that I offered, since she probably hasn’t eaten anything in a long time… Eventually, she sort of warmed up, enough to settle in a box I found and came back with, and let me carry them here to feed them!”

 

Now that Yotogari Shinri is thinking about it, he’s absolutely sure there’s some kind of rule in place regulating pets in the apartment complex. Or his occasional allergies around them-

“Abi..they can’t stay here. We can’t just keep them.” He already feels bad just stating the obvious, yet somehow has the courage to tell her bluntly, if not a little selfishly.

 

“I know, but it gets cold out there when it starts snowing this time of year, and she probably hasn’t eaten in days despite nursing newborns. I promise I’ll let them go, or turn them to the animal shelter, in a while, okay? Just for a week or so, I promise!”

Shinri still feels the mild tenderness of the shock from walking in on such a scene, having expected an average dinner with Abi for the night to celebrate their four year mark of being together.

 

“ _Please_?”

 

 _But gosh-darnit_ Abi is convincing and conniving in all sorts of ways that still makes Shinri’s heart flutter no matter what. He lets it go with a sign, deciding it’s not the worst thing that could happen to let some kittens board with them for a while as the snow-storm makes it way through town.

 

“Alright,” he acquiesces, “I guess..I’ll have to go back to the store for food tomorrow, huh?” Already, Abi is peppering every inch of his face she sees in kisses, repeatedly thanking him and hugging him close so that the tips of his ears glow just as red as they would out in the cold. Whether he regrets it or not, he’s happy if this makes her as joyous as it does to rescue some cats and let them stay for a while. It wasn’t unlike them to stop by and feed strays, though they had silently agreed against even trying to coax them into their apartment (knowing better than to get scratched trying!). However, by whatever magic Abi had managed to get them to follow suit was surprising enough that Shinri would just have to let it slide.

Throughout dinner, seated at their living room kotatsu beside the box of felines, Shinri found himself sneaking glances away from their movie to ponder over each speckled cat once more, before catching eyes with the mother and instantly turning his gaze. When a lull had managed it’s way between the movie Abi had suggested and their finished dinner bowls, he nudged her gently where she latched onto his shoulder.

“Come on,” he whispered, shutting the television off, “Why don’t we give them some privacy.” More like time alone for _themselves_ , but Abi was not one to complain with that logic, and let him pull her up from her spot curled on the floor, off to their own nest.

 

 

Within the two weeks of the four cats sharing their living space, Abi had estimated (guessed, really, with the aid of general research) that the kittens, by now were probably around four weeks old. With Shinri’s help she had also deduced that two of the kittens were females, while the last - and only orange and white one of the otherwise tabby cats - was male. Each of them had started to wobble around the hardwood floor under the wise supervision of mom, slowly bouncing across the expanse of the living room, which Abi had strewn newspaper and small toys across.

As promised, she called the local animal shelter to tell them of the situation, and made an appointment to bring them by after the storm had passed, which was estimated in three days. Until then, she found it easy to keep busy with kittens sometimes covering her as she lay on the ground, other times curled up with one during her reading on the couch.

It had been Shinri’s turn to pick the movie for tonight, and although it was a first for Abi, he had seen it hundreds of time with the rest of his siblings when he was younger, and found solace in resting against the comforts of the couch. That as until a mewling had caught his attention from off the side, and was staring back at the same orange kitten who’d attempted to woo him in the days previously. Each time he had arrived back, it was always the male who greeted him, even before Abi had the chance to. With little effort, he managed to scoop the kitten up and into the dip of his lap where a shared blanket gathered.

So maybe he didn’t entirely regret it.

“ _Shiin_ \- I told you they’d grow on you..!” The sing in Abi’s mocking connotation only concludes the same thing he is thinking, though still rolls his eyes at it.

 

“We still can’t keep them.”


End file.
